“Light is much more than something that lets you see. It affects the way we feel and directly influences our moods. To understand lighting you have to understand that it is more than just fittings, sockets and bulbs,” explains Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen.
His first challenge in the project house is to transform a north-facing Victorian sitting room. “You have to remember that the Victorians really didn’t trust daylight. As far as they were concerned, it was something that came into their rooms and faded their carpets or turned their ladies odd shades of brick. So they made these great barriers between them and daylight: heavy swags, tassels, fringes …”
Laurence offers practical advice and tricks of the trade for maximising daylight and transforms the room with atmospheric and moody lighting.
The project kitchen poses a different type of challenge. Here, Laurence must create a flexible lighting scheme to cope with many different conditions. Using the unique studio Design Lab, he demonstrates how to blend three layers of light into a more stimulating, dynamic atmosphere.
The choice of bulb also affects the mood of a room, he reveals. Red- and yellow-tinted light creates an intimate, warm mood, while blue and green gives a cooler, serene mood. With over 3,000 different light bulbs on the market, Laurence asks why most people in Britain still remain loyal to the standard bulb.